A Simple and Pristine Lifestyle, Part II

Continued from where I left off, this second translation installment starts with the first simple lifestyle as enunciated by Venerable Hung I in his article, A Simple Life Is A Beautiful One, that appeared in the May 2007 (#153) issue of Dharma Garden.

A) A simple and pristine habit of living
Craving for material possessions and emotional longing form the basics of life for ordinary folks. These pursuits motivate us to work hard, to follow our careers and to bolster our financial wellbeing. When managed well, these earthly preoccupations, while not completely devoid of desires, are not likely to result in dire aggravations. On the other hand, when poorly managed, we could be severely scarred by the fire of delusion, consuming every iota of merits that we have amassed. Therefore, the teachings of Buddha always stress on less desires and more contentment. One who has overcome desire and cultivated contentment is one who holds the key to a happy life that is free from suffering.

The Dharma admonishes us to eliminate desires, which denote the so-called impure desires driven by the five senses of sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch that manifest in the craving for wealth, sex, fame, gluttony, and sloth. Instead, we should cultivate and nurture the pure/wholesome desires [a better term that is less tainted by the first reference to impurity could perhaps be intentions, in my humble opinion, in this context. The ten wholesome intentions are couched in the negative as in no killing, no stealing, no improper sex, no deceiving talk, no derogatory remarks, no gossip, no flattery, no greed, no anger, and no delusion]. These teachings are embodied in one of the Eight-Fold Path: Right Effort/Diligence [the following translated bulleted texts are taken verbatim from David Brazier’s The Feeling Buddha (Fromm International, NY, 1998, pg. 159)]:

1) to prevent unwholesome states of mind from arising;
2) to eradicate those that have arisen;
3) to bring about wholesome states not yet arisen;
4) to sustain wholesome states already arisen.

Once we are able to distinguish those desires that we need to curb and those that we need to augment, we have to put into practice the wholesale termination of these affliction-inducing cravings.

How to achieve a state of less desire and contentment? We have to do more than the superficially obvious such as staying away from such indulgences. Instead, we have to actually give up greed and practice detachment. For example, eating/drinking by itself is intrinsically a neutral activity with no memory function. If we ingest with moderation, the food nourishes our body. However, if we overdo it with abandon, then the food is going to hurt our body, leading to illness.

[From hereon I’m skipping the citation of an excerpt from the Buddhist explanatory text written by Venerable Master Yin Shun.] Suffice to paraphrase here that the teachings of Buddha focus on taming the mind so as not to succumb to the temptations borne out of our habits conditioned by the environment, and not on renouncing totally everything that living in this world entails. We are endowed with the five senses upon birth. Interacting with the environment through these sensory organs is inevitable. And to live is to engage in nourishing activities that keep our body going. Therefore, eradicating desires is not tantamount to rejecting these means of sustenance. It’s purifying our mind commensurate with both bodily and societal needs so that our mind is not dictated by the changing environment.

I will stop here for now and will begin the second element of a simple lifestyle in the next installment. Stay tuned.